Here in the United States, today is Memorial Day, a holiday originally created in the late 1860s to honor the Union Civil War dead, and now a time to commemorate all of America’s war dead. Because it’s also observed as a three-day weekend, we’re bringing you a special Monday holiday edition of The Week in Early American History. On to your morning reading…

We start this week with some sad news. The history world this week mourned the passing of Harvard historian Mark Kishlansky. A scholar primarily of seventeenth-century England, he had a strong influence on a number of early Americanists (not least those who worked with him in Cambridge). Scott Sowerby, one of his students, offers a remembrance.

Was New England the first New England? Historian Caitlin Green suggests there is evidence that it may not have been.

On the 20th of May, the City of Portsmouth, NH, kicked off a three-day celebration of the opening of the African Burying Ground Memorial Park. The celebration concluded with a reburial on May 23rd of Portsmouth Africans, found during utility work in the city in 2003.

Early American syllabus-makers, take note of this handy graphic about witchcraft accusations for your slide shows.

This week, Megan Kate Nelson introduced her tongue-in-cheek ” Bancroft Prize Title Generator.” She will give your work-in-progress a snazzy new title that is calculated to improve your Bancroft chances and promises only to take 5% of your winnings.

What is “The Junto?”

The Junto is a group blog made up of junior early Americanists—graduate students and junior faculty—dedicated to providing content of general interest to other early Americanists and those interested in early American history, as well as a forum for discussion of relevant historical and academic topics.